Now comes the time for the serious sports psychology. Mid-August is when the mental toughness becomes the biggest challenge.
The adrenaline of opening preseason practice is wearing off and the dangled carrot of Florida State is still more than two weeks ahead. A particularly uncomfortable mid-afternoon spent in the worst of Alabama's climate Wednesday was the kind of test Nick Saban enjoys.
Walking straight off the field and to his media-room podium, Saban launched into a speech directed more toward his team than the cameras.
"You can't be complacent. It's a lot of hard work and perseverance," Saban said. "Can't get affected by external circumstances. Because basically, if you can't give effort, you can't play with toughness, you can't focus and be responsible to do your job, how can you ever develop and get the trust of your teammates, who know what you're supposed to do, but are you able to go out there and do it on a consistent basis? Do they trust that you will do your part for what you need to do? So, are focus this week has been to get more people to do that."
It all goes into developing the identity of the team that's unique to every season. Saban then quickly pivoted to tamp down any outside chatter regarding predictions -- which almost universally have Alabama No. 1 entering the season. That talk is the enemy of the annual preseason dose of humility in the face of comforting praise from outside voices.
Finding the identity or calling card for each team is a talking point often spoken by Saban and players. So, when does that picture come into focus?
Saban spent two minutes answering that question.
"The biggest factor is how many people can go out there and sustain in difficult circumstances and still execute and do their job. Because how much are you giving the other team by making mental errors and not being able to focus on the technique that you're supposed to play, not being able to do what you're supposed to do."
Then, a change of direction.
"Most of you all -- including Miss Terry, my mom, Aunt Fran -- they want to call the plays and think whoever's calling the plays is the one messing it up," Saban continued. "But basically, when the play gets messed up, it's because somebody didn't execute it right. So, we didn't block it right. We didn't run the right routes. We didn't have good protection. We don't really have 'Who called that defense?' We don't have any defense where we don't cover all the guys. Whether we get them covered or not, now that's another story. It all comes down to execution, people playing together, everybody being able to do their job."
It sounds like he's speaking directly to the locker room again.
It went on from there and with it came some of Saban's observations of where things stand.
"When I see the effort, which I haven't seen on a consistent basis," he said. "The toughness, mentally and physical toughness, which I see in spots but not all the time, and the ability for people to focus and do their job regardless of the circumstance. We're going to play games in weather like today. I think we'll play three or four. How many people were at Ole Miss last year? 100 degrees and we played 100 plays.
"Well, you better be a full-grown man if you're going to do that. Right here in your head, to be able to sustain and play and finish. Are we there yet? Probably not. Are we making progress? I think so. But we have to continue to work."
Practice resumes Thursday evening with another Friday afternoon workout leading into Saturday's second scrimmage.